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Glass vs. Glass

Samsung Electronics will roll out a glass-type smart wearable device in September.

The tech giant will launch a swift strike on the rapidly-emerging smart glass market at the same time to counter Google Glass.

Sony and Epson are following suit with their own versions, while Apple, Microsoft, and LG Electronics filed for smart glass-related patent applications, all scrambling for initial market dominance.

According to a Samsung associate on May 12, the tech behemoth is gearing up to roll out “Gear Glass” in time for Europe’s biggest electronics fair “IFA 2014,” which is to be held Sept. 5-10 this year in Berlin, Germany.

The electronic glasses will be equipped with the next-gen Tizen OS, which development is led by the tech giant. The Gear Glass design combines an ear piece and display, enabling people to listen to music with the right ear while looking at the display with the right eye.

The company recently obtained a pertinent patent from the American Patent Law Association. Likewise, the company got a design patent on its glass wearable device from the Korean Intellectual Property Office in October last year.

A Samsung associate let on, “We rolled out the smartwatch first, and have secured a considerable amount of smart glass-related technology and patents. Following the roll out of our smart watch Galaxy Gear in September last year, we are slated to introduce our smart glass Gear Glass this September.”

The name “Glass Gear” is missing “Galaxy” in its name, reflecting the company’s ambition to groom it to be the flagship product of wearable devices. In the same light, the Galaxy Gear’s sequence models were named “Samsung Gear 2” and “Samsung Gear Fit.

Amid the local tech giant’s rapid move in the smart glass market, Google is to roll out a much enhanced version of its Google Glass, while global IT companies such as Apple are obtaining smart glass-related patents one by one, igniting intensified competition in the smart glass market.

Smart glass frontrunner Google is zeroing in on full-on commercialization of their smart glass products within this year.

Google is to introduce much upgraded products such as the ones with built-in lenses, augmented reality functions, a music player, and smart phone-connected partial mobile function utilization.
Apple also recently got a patent on a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) touted as virtual reality goggles. It is a glass-type wearable device that looks like ski goggles in design and can be used by connecting it with other electronic devices such an iPod or Apple TV. Also, Microsoft already developed “MS Glass” and LG Electronics is filing for a patent application on “G Glass.”

Epson also unveiled its smart glass “MOVERIO BT-100” in the local market last March, and is to officially introduce it at the end of this month.

Sony, after introducing its “Smart Eyeglass” as a trial product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, is planning to commercialize the product in time for the opening of the Brazil World Cup in June.

One industry observer said, “The smart glass is a content platform and a final product that can contain technologies of software and hardware companies. It is superior in product value to the smart watch. The smart glass is a wearable device that can be the next smartphone together with the smart watch.”

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